Luke 9: The Twelve Apostles Are Sent Out to Preach

New Testament: Student Study guide, (2003), 61

Jesus ordained twelve Apostles to assist Him in the work and to carry it forward after His ascension into heaven. In order to accomplish this great task, the Apostles needed power, authority, experience, and knowledge but, as President Thomas S. Monson, a member of the First Presidency, reminded us, “Whom God calls, God qualifies” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1987, 54; or Ensign, May 1987, 44). As you read Luke 9, notice the ways Jesus helped the Twelve to qualify with necessary training and experience. We can feel confident that the Lord will help anyone who receives a calling. He wants us to succeed.

When one of the Lord’s servants shakes the dust off his feet it is a testimony that those whom the Lord sent him to teach refused his fellowship and message. It signifies that he is not accountable for the judgments that follow upon those who rejected him. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said that “the performance of such a responsibility should not be done unless the Spirit of the Lord indicates that it should be done” (Church History and Modern Revelation, 4 vols. [1946–49], 1:115).